Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.

Sunday, April 24, 2016

REYNOSA, Tamaulipas — Drug cartels
continue to operate with almost complete impunity in this border city.
Most recently the Gulf Cartel was able to use heavy machinery to take
down a series of police video cameras; one of the cameras was right
outside of the local Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office. The Mexican government set up a large
number of surveillance cameras throughout the border city of Reynosa
last year in what they called a new attempt to curb the activities of
organized crime. By then, the Gulf Cartel had their surveillance network
in place for years. Through the use of strategically placed cartel
lookouts, clandestine radio communication networks and a series of
surveillance cameras, the criminal organization had managed to stay one step ahead of authorities. To keep their cameras safe, Mexican authorities build metal barriers to protect the concrete poles that held the cameras. The latest chapter in the ongoing war for the eyes and ears of the city took place last Friday when the criminal organization kicked off their most brazen attempt. According to eyewitnesses, cartel members had a crew using heavy machinery and jackhammers to remove the barriers and knock down the concrete poles. Despite that fact that Reynosa is home to the headquarters of the 8th Military Zone, the Gulf Cartel was able to take down dozens of cameras throughout the city even the cameras right outside of Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office...more